Free The Sinatra Files by Tom Kuntz

diffuse racial tensions in Gary, Indiana, where white high school students were boycotting classes to protest a desegregation effort
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    Confronting a rowdy and antagonistic audience in the school auditorium, Sinatra stood center stage, his arms folded, staring down the crowd for two anxious minutes until the catcalls and stomping gave way to absolute silence. Then he stepped up to the microphone and announced, Hoboken-style, “I can lick any son of a bitch in this joint.” Hostility gave way to cheers, but his impassioned plea for tolerance ended up insulting some locals and failed to end the strike. It also cemented the boyish singer’s status as a hero to American liberals of every stripe, including Communists
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    This excerpt, from a 1950 report in the FBI files, summarized the incident
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    GARY, INDIANA, SCHOOL STUDENTS STRIKE INCIDENT, NOVEMBER 1, 1945
    On October 18, 1945, the white students at the Froebel School in Gary, Indiana, went on strike for a second time. The first walkout occurred during September, 1945, when several hundred white students demanded that the school be made an all white school. The Indianapolis Office reported that the trouble between the white and colored races at this school dated back at least to the spring of 1944 when there had been an attempt to establish an all white Parent Teachers Association in opposition to the Association then functioning under the presidency of Beatrice Lawrence, wife of Howard Lawrence, a Communist Party organizer for Lake County, Indiana. This move was defeated and the PTA, including both white and Negro members, continued with Mrs. Lawrence as President. On November 1, 1945, Frank Sinatra appeared at the Memorial Auditorium in Gary, Indiana, at which time he made an appeal to end the school strike. During his speech Sinatra charged that the strike had been fomented by adults under the leadership of Joseph Lach, a prominent citizen and undertaker in Gary, Indiana. Sinatra referred to Lach as a small time politician who had never beenelected to office. Sinatra also attacked Julius Danch and referred to him as a man of shady character, opposed to whites and Negroes associating together, and said that he would personally ask the Mayor to throw Danch out of his office as City Hall Custodian. Sinatra also said that he had talked with the student strike leader, Leonard Levenda, who had refused to meet with him, but that he would try again to talk with Lavenda before leaving Gary. Levenda reportedly denied Sinatra’s charge and claimed that he had talked with Sinatra before the meeting and told him that Lach and Danch had no part in the school strike.
    Danch was identified as the Editor of a monthly Catholic bulletin, the president of the Hungarian Political Club in Gary, and City Hall Custodian since January, 1943.
    As a result of Sinatra’s attack on Lach and Danch, Father Lawrence T. Grothaus, Pastor of the Saint Anthony’s Church and Director of the Catholic Youth Organization in Gary, left the stage in disgust. Father Grothaus told Sinatra’s manager, George Evans, that Sinatra should not have delved into personalities. Evans reportedly replied that Sinatra’s information was in part, at least, received from the confidential files of the FBI. He later stated that he could not recall who had made the statement regarding FBI files; however, Evans’ statement pertaining to FBI files was witnessed by Police Captain Peter Billick and Patrolmanof the Gary, Indiana Police Department.
    Relative to Sinatra’s source of information, Captain Billick advised that a check of Sinatra’s contacts from the time he arrived until he left the same evening revealed that Sinatra had no opportunity to obtain the information concerning Lach and Danch while he was in Gary.
    The meeting on November 1, 1945, which was addressed by Frank Sinatra had been arranged by the Anselm Forum. It was said that many of the leaders of the Anselm Forum were CIO leaders and “so-called